Many years ago, I was taught that when we stand in a circle and join hands, we take a small deliberate posture. Maybe you were taught this as well. Turn your left-hand palm up, open to receive. Turn your right-hand palm down, ready to give. We all give and take. What comes into your open left hand passes out through your right, on to the person beside you, and around it goes. It's an easy thing to overlook - just a way of holding hands. But the posture is a whole theology in miniature. Faith...

At eighteen I moved to Hartford, CT to study with the Hartford Ballet. One of the first things I did was find a therapist to work on family "baggage." Getting to my appointment meant walking through a very upscale neighborhood in West Hartford, past large mansion-like homes with perfectly manicured lawns and circular driveways. One house stood out. It took me a few trips to realize it was actually a facade hiding a modest older home that had likely been there long before the other estates had...

On Sunday, August 30, we will gather at Camp Adams to celebrate the baptism of three and the rededication of one members of our Discipleship Class. They range in age from 16 to 80. Some come from long church backgrounds and others from almost none; some were raised in the faith, others are stepping into it for the first time. What they share is a decision to follow the Jesus Way, and their witness invites the rest of us to remember our own commitment, whenever and however it was made. Last...